well that was a fun non-sequitur that had nothing to do with the original comment. what kind of ******* idiot is going to sit out because he thinks his endorsement deal (which the school would have ****-all to do with) should be bigger?
that aside, i don't know why people feel like we need to pay these idiots. what, 1% of ncaa football players (let alone the basketball, baseball, women's basketball, whatever) are even going to make the nfl? so now you want to piss away MORE of my tuition money so that CU can pay its kicker (you know, the guy who was something like 2/14 last year and has less chance of making the nfl than the average 3 year old)? ******* brilliant. let me know when we start paying high school valedictorians to go to various universities to do research. let me know when some of the work students did, which led to the nobel prize for carl wieman and eric cornell, gets them paid. that **** brought in far more money for the school than the football program has in its ENTIRE ******* HISTORY.
but like, zomg, three of them will get paid a lot in a couple of years after all of them get a free education and all the free tutoring they need. we should totally start paying all of them thousands of dollars and further cripple an already (mostly) pathetic post-secondary education system.
we now return you to the actual, relevant discussion of why marcell dareus may or may not be an absolute idiot for breaking rules that are very clearly laid out by the ncaa.

This is a classic case of need & greed, greed for the agent to get his 2% & a kids not allowed to have almost anything per the draconian NCAA rules, with agents using all manner of conniving means to gain access to top 10 picks who are looking at millions in guaranteed $ as soon as they sign an NFL contract. Clearly this agent had access to a list of what looks like the 2011 top 10 picks invited to his south Florida party & used all manner of conniving, illegal means to access them.

The players have to supervised & the programs are obligated to provide deterrents to keep the agents out, just like guarding any other valuable asset with fences, guards, monitors, whatever it takes. Asking a player who grew up poor in the South to maintain his eligibility in the day to day short term by refusing contact with an agent's runner who's offering cars, cash, jewelry, parties with strippers or hookers is like asking a 5-yr-old to wait alone in a room with a chocolate cake for hrs. on end & guard it but not eat any.

Yes it would be impractical for 95% of the NCAA programs & the clear majority of the scholarship players to all fill out a W4 form like any other college employee & receive a stipend or salary b/c they're earning $ for he school by playing a sport, but the absurdities of the present situation are just as impractical. I recall an investigation in the 70s where the school testified that all they could legally give a player was 2 meals a day & laundry $ in cash, so the NCAA wanted to know why they didn't distribute the laundry $ in quarters vs. $ bills b/c that's what the washing machines in the athletic dorm used -- absurd enough? Or the defense Oklahoma used for giving the players cash payments to "order pizzas" after hrs. b/c they were restricted to 2 meals per day & players got hungry at night, when the truth as reported in the SI expose' article noted that the Sooner players would order 10+ pizzas every night, they stick a shotgun in the delivery boy's face refusing payment even when the poor delivery boy complained it would come out of his minimum wage salary. That was during the out of control Barry Switzer yrs. at Oklahoma when the starting QB was driving a new Vette & dealing coke out of the glovebox.

The current Simon Pure joke system of the student athlete breeds absurd & tragic circumstances like that. Only at the service academies & Stanford (or Notre Dame or Vanderbilt in some past yrs, IDK anymore) where you ride the pine if you don't make your grades in a given semester or qtr. are there student athletes playing FB in the BCS system.

It merits further discussion b.c the current system is clearly disfunctional. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over & over again & expecting different results.

I've said it plainly -- the programs are obligated to protect their players from predatory agents, period. Some are doing it & others aren't. Greed with millions at stake found a way to Dareus didn't it?

I started the thread so I will speculate on its results: this is specifically devastating to the Bama defense b/c Dareus was expected to provide veteran leadership on a defense that lost so many to graduation & the NFL, he was one of 3 returning. Not going too far out on a limb to predict that it could be the factor that prevents Alabama from repeating as national champion, & I follow my school's storied fb program very closely. Their schedule in the SEC West alone is brutal, Auburn & LSU every yr, + Tennessee every yr. & Florida with Penn St. in back to back September games. The Tide has 5 of the Top 150 recruits coming in but some will redshirt as always, & Florida has more than Bama on what's looking like another formidable but very young Meyer coached Gators team, & LSU is loaded too.

As for his draft placement, I think he will be allowed to work out with the team in practice per the appeal but reinstatement for the season is unlikely. The NCAA would have lots of egg on its face if they did that, there is pressure on them to bring the hammer down as I think they will on Austin later if he did accept something as it looks like he did. Dareus was a sure thing for the top 10 in most draft lists for 2011, Kiper & PFW had him in the top 5 at last review, but this could drop him like it did Dez Bryant, also a top 10 or even top 5 player last April who missed 80% of the 09 season & dropped to #24 to Dallas. The crucial factor will be how Dareus answers the questions about this that will be posed by various NFL teams at the next Combine. He might have to give them hs best Come to Jesus speech about how he had contact before he was 3 yrs. away from HS, accepted nothing from him, & signed no agreements to get back into the top 10.

Hi <insert prospect name>, I'd like to you come play for our university where you will be treated like a child and locked in your room when you aren't in class or at practice. At our university, we don't plan to treat you like men because we know we need to protect you from yourself and the outside world. I look forward to you representing our university.

I think Dez Bryant is an anomoly in this sort of situation. Dareus was being put in the top 10 in a lot of drafts on pure potential and what he needed to do this year. Dez Bryant was a sure fire first rounder after his sophomore year. I would think anywhere between 3rd and undrafted for Dareus now.

My local sports radio had an enlightening interview with a professional agent. Here is an article summarizing the interview and link to audio...

Quote:

Sports agent Ron Del Duca, who has been an NFL agent since 1993, weighed in on the subject by telling Seibel and Starkey that agents bend the rules 40-50 percent of the time.

“I tell the kid right off the bat, if I have to throw toys at you-cars, girls, lines of credit, money-for you to sign with me then I’m not your guy,” Del Duca, a South Hills resident, said.

Agents can meet with college football players once they’re finished with three years of school, as long as they don’t give athletes anything of value.

“Technically you can’t give the player or any member of his family anything of value to induce them,” Del Duca said. “Now, value can be a cup of coffee, a pizza, $100,000, a car. But then you get some gray areas like a marketing guarantee.”

Del Duca says it’s not just the agents, the kids are asking for trouble too. “The kids are out of control,” he said.

“(Kids) are asking agents to co-sign car loans, send them to Arizona for training, they want rims for their vehicles, they want to go to Las Vegas after the Bowl game with their family to celebrate the NFL career they probably aren’t going to have anyway,” Del Duca said.

Del Duca said that last year he walked away from six or seven guys because they wanted things of value.

That doesn't surprise me at all. If anyone thinks that it's all these agents taking advantage of poor, young kids, they are just as idiotic as the kids themselves. I'd wager that for every 1-2 kids that get taken advantage of because they don't fully understand the rules, there's probably another 5-10 that know they are breaking rules and ask for ****.

I'd wager that for every 1-2 kids that get taken advantage of because they don't fully understand the rules, there's probably another 5-10 that know they are breaking rules and ask for ****.

That's basically what he is saying. He mentioned that a current "successful" NFL player who's been in the League a couple of years asked him to buy the newest top-of-the-line Mercedes in order to sign with him. When he refused, the unnamed player signed elsewhere and was seen in the very Mercedes he demanded.

That's basically what he is saying. He mentioned that a current "successful" NFL player who's been in the League a couple of years asked him to buy the newest top-of-the-line Mercedes in order to sign with him. When he refused, the unnamed player signed elsewhere and was seen in the very Mercedes he demanded.

Exactly. Anyone who thinks most these kids are innocent and being taken advantage of have their heads so far in the sand.

The bad man held a gun to their head and forced them to accept those benefits. THAT IS A SCIENTIFIC FACT!

Well, this in addition to they were poor kids all their life so when presented with nice things they had no choice but to take them.

Seriously though, for me it's enough to know that just telling these kids once they step on campus, "Ok, here are the rules and if you break them you're done. You can't accept (insert list of things/benefits/etc.) at all, so don't." Just telling every kid that at the beginning and I think that should be enough, but schools have people constantly monitoring and reminding kids. There's no excuse for any player to plead ignorance and say he didn't know it was against the rules.

It's one thing if the kid was tricked into going to a party, it's completely different if the player accepts anything. (Not just Dareus, any kid).

And the Tide might be stuck on that no. for awhile. 1st Andre Smith signing with an agent, now Dareus going to a party. Dyathink Saban might be somewhat pissed at agents contacting his players now?

Not a lot of thought & consideration given to this choice: (outstretches both arms with palms up balancing alternately up & down) Another NC for Bama, or gazillions in guaranteed money? The NCAA won't let them have jack **** for themselves while on scholarship, they grew up poor in the poorest p/o the country, which one do you think they want?

That's a fair point, but in all honesty, having a poor background isn't a justifiable reason to break rules.

I know it would probably be hard to turn down all this nice stuff, but it isn't the NCAA's fault that these kids see having expensive cars and vacations as more valuable than a college eduaction. It's not like these kids are at rock bottom while in school with no money, home or food. The stuff they are getting are luxury items, not necessities. While it may be hard to turn them down, it's not like they are unable to live without them.

Maybe it's just me, but I would take a college education over a Mercades every time. Most of these guys will be getting drafted and signing the contracts eventually, there's no reason to accept money and other stuff like a year earlier than they will get it.